This past Sunday afternoon we had our yearly Bible Club Christmas party. We had over 36 kids attend – at least 12 were kids who rarely come or have never been to our Bible Club. We are very thankful and are praying they return. We started with playing Steal the Bacon, then we headed upstairs for singing and a lesson. Afterwards the kids each decorated a Christmas cookie. We ended with playing a clothesline relay game.

We’re very thankful the Carson ladies came with two of their Tampuan friends. The Carsons were a big help with Ezra and with being extra pairs of hands for me. We’re blessed with their friendship.

As soon as the party was over, we loaded our family in the car and headed back to church to help our youth practice for a Christmas play. Our weekends are quite full with helping with Christmas celebrations. For the past two weeks I’ve been helping two teenage boys with their Christmas song piano playing. Two Sunday afternoons ago I worked with our youth at church who want to learn to sing in harmony. We worked on the chorus of The First Noel. We will continue helping with music and the play until our church Christmas celebration on December 28 & 29.

On November 30th I taught at a meeting for Jarai and Tampuan ladies who are leaders in their churches. They usually meet at least once a year. There were at least 35 ladies there from 10 villages. I spoke on James 1:5 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17 in Khmer, since that is our common language. I was thrilled to have this opportunity. So thankful to God for helping me have time to prepare and for helping me speak. Thankful to Josh for watching the kids and making extra time for me to prepare my lesson.

We continue to have our weekly Saturday night Bible study with our Khmer neighbors. Davi is a new believer and comes with her children and some of her nieces and nephews. We sing together, Josh is teaching through Firm Foundations, and we pray.

December 1st our church had a baptism. About 15 people were baptized. We are so thankful to see God working in our church.

The first week of December we decorated our home for Christmas. The kids made a huge paper chain.

And there’s always the busyness of keeping an eye on children # 5!

For Becca’s birthday we spent a few hours at a pool in Ban Lung (45 mins away from us). We were impressed that all the older kids went down the big water slide multiple times. Clara always went down on Josh lap. Ezra loved the water.

This past Monday Becca and I had her birthday sleepover while Josh was away. We ate popcorn and played games. I taught Becca how to play Dutch Blitz.

This week I made the little girls a princess coloring book. Clara insisted we get a picture with the princess.

This week we celebrated Becca’s 10th birthday! It all started with her countdown calendar – Nancy Drew themed. One of the days was a movie and we watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. The kids loved it and it was fun to observe them watch a movie I’d seen so many times as a little kid.

Last Thursday we had Becca’s neighborhood birthday party. We usually have it on Sunday, but we moved it up so RakSmey (our 5 year old neighbor) could attend before he left for the Children’s Hospital to get his glass eye put in. Becca had a horse themed party – horse races, pin the tail on the horse, horse pinata, and horse cake & decorations.

We had over 50 people attend her party. This is the first year we had no cake leftover. (I did have another sheet cake ready in the fridge if we needed it!) Besides our neighbors we had several kids from our Jarai church attend, and the Fetterolfs made it for the piñata and cake.

Everyone enjoyed the horse races. In the pictures you can see RakSmey and Anna racing against each other. They are both 5.

The piñata was a hit – though we made it too strong and impossible to break open. I eventually had to rip it open and throw the candy/toys out from on top of a ladder. One of the best things was watching our neighbor Davi (a new believer) participate in the games. The joy she has now is a huge contrast to former somber self.

For Becca’s real birthday, this past Tuesday, we traveled to Ban Lung to go swimming for a few hours. The kids had a blast on the slides and even Ezra enjoyed the water. We came home and grilled hotdogs and made mac and cheese.

After dinner we spent some time looking at pictures and videos from Becca’s preemie days. What a wonderful reminder of God’s hand in our daughter’s life.

Thankful for our sweet first born daughter. Becca loves to read and draw. She’s very creative in designing crafts and projects for her siblings. She has started teaching English to a few kids who hang around at church when I meet my ladies twice a month. She prepares her own lessons and designs her own activities. Becca also had her first baby sitting job – I went across the street to talk with a sick neighbor lady while Becca watched the two younger girls who didn’t want to come along. She also has been helpful watching Ezra when he wakes up before my language lesson is over. We’re very thankful for her love for Jesus and her desire to be like Jesus. Thankful for our 10 years with our girl. Happy 10th Birthday, Becca!

Ezra is now an official walker! He started taking small steps back in September when he thought no one was watching him. Once I heard him laughing – he took 3 steps – but as soon as he saw me watching he plopped down and started crawling again. He did this several other times. Based on that, I was really expecting him to be an official walker last month, but he decided to wait until he turned 15 months.

Last week he was starting walk from place to place – this week he’s running! Watching him is a full-time job! He loves getting into things. Climbing on things. Eating things. He continues to be a very happy baby – if only he’d sleep through the night! Love this boy!

Ezra loves to play outside and I try to take him out every day around 3PM. He enjoys dirt and stones. He loves playing with his siblings when they let him. He often ruins their buildings and the things they’ve set up. Poor kid. He wants to be big like them.

Ezra has had really good health. Last month he had a fever and was acting weirdly – but thankfully it only lasted a few hours and then he was fine.

Last week we welcomed Naomi to our church. Her parent work with the children at our church. So thankful for this gift to her family. Her mom had a miscarriage right after Christmas last year. We were happy to visit them at the clinic near our home to welcome her a few hours after she was born.

If you’ve been keeping up with our blog this year, you’ve read a lot about our first furlough in the States. What a whirlwind trip! Many people have commented that they were exhausted after reading about our busy months. It was certainly a very full and busy time and a strange time in our lives. It’s not normal to leave your home and put routine life aside for 6 months to go around visiting family and friends. Who does that…oh yeah, missionaries.

We had such a good time visiting with family and friends. It was so good to catch up with people – to hear about what God has been doing in their lives, to meet their children, to see new homes, and to rejoice and weep with them. Our children loved spending time with new and old friends and with grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. We loved getting to do so many fun things that we don’t have access to in Cambodia – snow play, boating, skating, playgrounds, museums, church functions, etc (look back at the blog). It was lovely to take hot showers, have air conditioning, not worry about armies of ants, go to Costco and Aldi – and the library. We loved going to the library. Our kids got library cards and every time went we checked out over 50 books. All our kids finished the Greenville Library System’s Summer Reading Program in less than a week! I was reminded of all the privileges that come from living in America. We had a wonderful time and were blessed by the generosity of so many kind people.

Along with all the blessings came emotional exhaustion. It was exhausting to spend 6 months saying hello/goodbye over and over again. We would spend time with people – catch up – and then say goodbye. Halfway through, I was so exhausted from saying hello/goodbye to people that I didn’t even want to see anyone else. Our children started feeling it too. The hardest moment was when Clara started crying when she had to say goodbye to her 3-year-old cousins, “her friends” as she called them. I was shocked that it affected her that way. It made me cry.

Being in America made me realize how much easier it is to live in America than in Cambodia. We forget, and life in Cambodia becomes normal. I was reminded over and over again how easy it is to do things in America. This wasn’t a bad thing it was just one of those hmmm moments.

I really enjoyed the times I got to spend with many godly women – new friends and old. I’m thankful for the ladies who snatched me away for a meal or coffee to talk and encourage me, ask me good questions, and let me hear about their lives. I’m thankful for the ladies I was able to learn from. I’ll never forget the lady who would just start talking to God in the middle of our conversations: “Oh Lord, help that person and give them grace.” It made me rethink the phrase “pray without ceasing.”

Along with being encouraged by ladies, I was deeply sadden and discouraged with the loneliness I heard about from many women – Christian women. I was puzzled with the question – how can Christian women in good, faithful, small and large churches feel so alone – feel like there is no one who really cares about them or their spiritual walk. I asked several people for their thoughts about this. Each person acknowledged the problem and had theories for its cause.

I was surprised how much I missed our people back in Cambodia. When I’m in Cambodia, I really don’t miss anyone in American. Maybe that’s because I have instant access to them via internet. But when I was in America, I missed my sisters and brothers in Cambodia. I found myself often wondering how they were doing. It was good to get back to them.

While we enjoyed our time in the States, we were all glad to get back to our home and work in Cambodia. Even though we are foreigners here, this is where we belong right now and this is where God wants us. We’re back to our work. Back to our routine. Back to having a normal family life. Back home. We’re thankful for all the safety God gave us in the States, Thankful for all the time we had with family and friends. And we’re thankful to be back living in Cambodia.

During the last half of July and the first two weeks of August, we were based out my of parents home in York, PA. During that time we traveled to NY twice and to to different places in PA. The rest of the time seemed like it was filled up with packing our 14 pieces of checked luggage and all our carry-ons. It was a huge project!

Our kids absolutely loved my parents trampoline. I think my mom took 100’s of pictures of them jumping together.

I celebrated my birthday with my parents. My mom and the kids made a lovely fruit basket for me.

My dad bought everyone baseball gloves and spent a lot of time playing catch (with baseballs and footballs) with the kids. Then there was the nightly baseball games – girls against boys.

One day we went to the Indian Echo Caverns near Lancaster, PA. Unfortunately we got a bad flat tire and ended up needing to be towed. We still got to the caverns while waiting to be towed.

My dad made sure we were fed well. He was always going shopping to buy us more food!

We visited a lake two times to go swimming. The kids also went to First Night York.

Right before we left one of my parents’ neighbors came and did an amazing fireworks display right in our backyard. It was great. The also gave us hundred of sparklers to use – our kids had a blast.

The girls enjoyed playing with my dolls and wearing my old dresses. Becca made a skirt with my mom with some fabric Becca brought from Cambodia.

We had a lovely time with my parents and are thankful for their generosity in housing us and giving us three bedrooms with 5 beds (plus pack-n-play) – no one had to share a bed and every kid had a space to call their own, and that makes a big difference in everyone’s happiness level. And a big thanks to my mom for all the pictures her took – probably almost 1000!

I think this wraps up our furlough travels. I need to do one more blog to document our travels back to Cambodia and then maybe one to take time to reflect on our time in the States. But we’ll see……

This week we celebrated our 5th Cambodian Coronation Day. It was a delight to spend the morning and evening celebrating the crowning of three queens and two kings.

The day included cookie baking and decorating, crown making, face painting, and a coronation ceremony with entertainment provided. So glad to have a day to celebrate in October.

The first week in August we took a quick trip up to visit with my older brother, Sam, and his family in Goshen, NY. We had a great time visiting with them. Lots of cousin playing time. One morning we went to a horse cart racing museum. Becca was thrilled!

We also were able to visit with Martin – the friend who biked into Cambodia to visit us last January. He gave us a great tour of his parents’ dairy farm.

The weekend of July 20th we visited a supporting church on Long Island, NY. We had a great time connecting with the families there and enjoyed two different pool meals with families from the churches. Both meals included birthday cakes for me.

On the way to NY, we stopped by to visit with my grad school roommate, Ashley LeBlanc. We enjoyed catching up and the kids loved riding Mr. Orlando’s go-carts and swimming in the pool.

We also visited with Parke and Lynnelle Brown. Good to see our friends from Texas and meet their son, Henry.

We also got to visit with the Andrew Jensen family – no direct relations of ours. We enjoyed spending time with them.

My good friend, Rebekah Yamada, came up for a several hour visit. It was good to see her again and have a break from packing to go back to Cambodia.

I think that covers most of our extra visiting in the month of July. I spoke at a supporting church one evening at their ladies night out. The theme was from Ecclesiasties 3. Becca especially enjoyed playing the games.

And I think that sums up the month os July. Sometime Later I’ll post about our time at my parents and our last visits in August before we returned to Cambodia. And maybe someday I’ll have time to type up some reflections on the furlough experience.

On Monday, September 2nd, we started our new school year (after our very long break in the States). It ended up being a very rough starting week, as 4 of our kids ended up getting bad colds in varying degrees, which included fevers and very bad coughs. But….we plodded on. This week will complete our 6th week of school.

Becca has started the 4th grade. Isaiah started 2nd. Anna and Clara have started kindergarten together. Kindergarten has so far been the funnest class of the year. Both girls are doing well and it’s fun to have two students. Anna could probably go faster and Clara could wait to start – but the two even each other out nicely, and Clara really enjoys being included in school.

Ezra does his own thing during school – sometimes naps, sometimes wanders, sometimes snacks. Josh suggested he join kindergarten with the girls…

We were glad to get back to our Jarai church and friends. Last month Josh participated in a Jarai Bible School run by the Jarai.

We also had a visit from the CMA Cambodian field director.

Home schooling and taking care of Ezra pretty much takes up all my time now. It’s been encouraging to get back into routines after 6 months of moving around and changing schedules. I started Christ Church’s Bible Reading Challenge and am really enjoying #KeepThe Feast.

Twice in July we were able to visit with my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Susan. The first time the hosted us for a night as we were passing through and needing a place to stay. The second time we stayed a few nights with them on our way to a supporting church. My aunt and cousin took us to The Turkey Hill Experience. Our kids loves making their own ice cream commercials, testing iced tea, and testing ice cream.

We had a great time visiting and my aunt gave the kids lots of treasures. She also gave me several old pictures of my grandparents and great grandparents. It was a fun time for all. (The picture below is of my Great Grandma on my dad’s side and her mom.)

We also celebrated my birthday at their house. My aunt made a nice dinner and Becca did a special spoon play for me. It was a good week there.

Yes, we’re still catching up on all our travels in the States! After leaving Keswick, we went to Piscataway, NJ – the town of my birth, home a a supporting church, and home to my Grandma Sutter and some of my aunts and uncles. Our first stop was to have Saturday lunch (July 13th) with Mr. and Mrs. Puccio. Mrs. Puccio was my 3rd and 4th grade Sunday school teacher and good friend. She was the one who mentored me as I started teaching the 3rd and 4th grade Sunday class at the age of 12. We had a great time of fellowship at their house. The kids enjoyed swimming. I’m pretty sure the Puccios haven’t aged a bit since I was in the 3rd grade!

Saturday evening we went to my grandma’s house to celebrate my Uncle John’s 50th birthday. Uncle John is a very special uncle – loved by all – especially his nieces and nephews. Our kids love him. It was special to see him give our kids swing rides on the very swing my grandfather and uncle gave me swing rides on.

We enjoyed our visit with our church in NJ. This is the church I grew up in 15 years. Sunday evening we went to my Aunt’s house and went swimming. We made it back to Piscataway one more time the night before we flew back to Cambodia. We spent the night there, so we would be closer to the airport. It was good to see Grandma and Uncle John one last time before leaving the country. Even Uncle Joey (my youngest brother) stopped in to say goodbye.

A few weeks ago, I got an educational email about International Talk Like a Pirate Day….so I decided to take a fun day celebrating pirates. I felt like the kids deserved a break after 2.5 weeks in school. We dressed like pirates – some kids had hooks or patches, some just had tattoos.

We started the day reading pirate books and each pirate made their own flag. While eating lunch another pirate, Short Beard be his name, boarded our ship. As soon as he closed the hatch, we all attacked him (though Pirate Clara secretly tried to save him). I, Captain Pickles, was not interested in anyone taking over me ship. We captured him, but let him eat our vittles. At lunch we filled our mugs with grog (limeade mixed with soda water) and sang a song about the wonderful Captain Pickles. – errrr me.

In the afternoon, Pirate Clara and I made chocolate cake. Then Ansy, Pimbles, and Captain Hook along with Pirate Clara all buried silver coins outside and made maps for the rest of us to find them.

After our pirate supper we played pirates and then fired off some cannon balls (balloon games) and ended with the new Captian Short Beard telling a pirate story. Truth is, I turned me ship over to Captain Short Beard when he won me over with his good looks and wild kissing.

A very fine day indeed…Arrrrrrrr! Hoorah!

I found a few more pictures from our time at Canaan Land. The week also included some van trouble and some fun rides on Canaan Land’s vehicles.

Saturday, July 6th, we left Canaan Land and started our two-day trip to America’s Keswick in NJ. We made a quick stop to visit with the Overstreets. We even got to cross paths with the Crowleys there.

Sunday we arrived at Keswick. My older brother, Sam, was one of the week’s speakers, so we got to enjoy hearing him preach and got extra cousin time. It was a great week of meals, messages, family, and lots of swimming. We spent every afternoon in the pool and/or lake. One afternoon there was a giant slippy-slide that all the kids and I enjoyed.

During the week, we weeded a flower bed with the little girls and earn milkshakes for us all!

The kids all dressed up for Wacky Wednesday and Becca won the prize for being the wackiest looking girl! Isaiah won a car-racing contest run by Capitan Keswick.

My grandma came one morning to hear Sam preach. We enjoyed our week and the kids had a blast!

The first week of July all my siblings and spouses (minus Daniel, Emily’s husband, who had to be in PA school) got together with my parents in North Carolina. We spent the week at Canaan Land doing lots of hiking and eating. We had four cabins, so there was lots of space for everyone and time for kids to wind down in the evening.

There were 15 Sutter cousins, ages 9 and down. Lots of kids. My mom spent weeks planning the Sutter Reunion Olympics and had all sorts of activities planned for every occasion – rain or shine.

It was fun to spend time together and see my brothers parent their kids. It was also great getting to know our nieces and nephews. Nice for our kids to get to know their aunts and uncles and get lots of cousin playing time.

We had a great month of June in South Carolina. It was great to be in the same town as Josh’s parents. We enjoyed all our extra time with them, going on outings, eating together, and just hanging out. The last week in June we went to Jones Gap for a picnic lunch and hike.

The kids enjoyed a trip to the Roper Mountain Science Center with Grandma Jensen. The butterflies and animals were a big hit. That evening we went to a planetarium showing. I was very proud that Becca was picked to list the planet in order.

We took a short trip to visit Josh’s oldest sister Caroline and her family. The men went shooting while the kids all enjoyed playing.

Our kids also enjoyed playing with their cousins in Greenville, when they came up for a visit.

We also saw the Crowleys (our Team Leaders in Cambodia), which was a big hit for our kids. One night we went to Uncle Nat’s soccer game. The kids were excited about cheering him on. Clara wanted to make her sign for Aunt Kim.

Our last Sunday in SC, Josh preached the PM service at our home church. We’re thankful for the time we had to spend with the church, friends, and all our family in SC this year.

In July, Josh made an overnight trip to visit his parents again. Josh’s second sister Charity, flew in from China for a surprise visit. All three Jensen kids got to be with their parents.

A huge thank you to Mom J and Caroline who took most of these pictures. With 5 kids to juggle, taking pictures is about the last thing on my mind. I’m thankful for all the pictures people took for us.

August 13th was Ezra’s 1st birthday. So far he’s spent half of his life in Asia and half in the States. The day after his birthday we flew back to Cambodia (it was a very expensive birthday present!).

Ezra continues to be a sweet, pleasant boy. He always got a glowing report from the nursery workers in the churches we visited and many people wanted to keep him. He’s such a joy.

At the end of June, Ezra started crawling. He quickly became a speedy crawler and we’re so thankful he waited until we were near the end of all our visiting. He also learned to pull up on his pack-n-play, which made him less content to be put down for naps or in the night.

Ezra loves eating. He has three teeth – two on the bottom, one on the top. He loves watermelon and all kinds of fruit. He loves drinking. He loves swimming, as long as the water is warm. He loves bubbles. He loves his rabbit – Malone, and loves to suck his pointer finger. Ezra says a few words: Mama – which refers to me or means more, bubbles, buhbuh – maybe this means Becca, Dada, and dtickadticka – which means tickle-tickle. The funniest thing is when he tickles himself. He loves to be tickled and often moves my hand to tickle him more. (The picture below shows him tickling himself.)

A lot of people think Ezra looks like Isaiah – here’s a 1-year picture for comparison. Isaiah had more teeth, more hair, and more weight!

The day before Ezra’s birthday we had a party for him. He loved eating his ice cream cake.

On Ezra’s actual birthday we drove to NJ. He got to see his Great Grandma Sutter, Great Uncle John, and Uncle Joey.

We’re looking forward to an exciting year with Ezra. I have the feeling he’s going to be into everything. He’s going to be a challenge during home schooling, but fun. He’s struggling with the time change, but I’m hoping he’ll be adjusted in another week. At least he’s really cute when he wants to play at 1am and 3 am. 🙂

Ezra has gotten into the habit of getting rocked to sleep. He’s still nursing every three hours at night – I’m hoping once we’re settled back in our own home we can break him of this habit. All and all he’s done a great job with six months of traveling, being in many different sleeping environments, and being with so many people, without a normal routine. We’re thankful for our boy and I can’t imagine life without him.

The journey has started and might be over by the time you read this. Tuesday afternoon we loaded our stuff into a van and drove to NJ. Wednesday morning we drove to the JFKennedy airport in NY. Our flight leaves at 2pm. We have a 13-hour flight to Korea, a 2-hour layover, then a 5 hour flight to Phnom Penh. Lord willing we will arrive in Cambodia around 11pm on Thursday (Eastern time: Thursday 12pm). We will spend a few days in Phnom Penh before making the days drive to our home in Ratanakiri.

Today we rode the Strasburg Rail Road. It’s something we’ve been planning to do since we came back to the States. Glad we fit it in!

We rode the train and got off at a picnic stop for an hour.

A fun day for us all!